October 9, 1999
What if the newspaper headlines read the same way our headline reads above? What if the Virgin Mary portrait had been painted by a master artist and it was on loan from the Vatican? What if some liberal wackos filed a lawsuit to have this obvious religious object removed from a Government Funded Museum? What if this were a simple (well, 'simple' is not exactly the right word) separation of church and state issue? Haven't hundreds of battles been fought over public displays of religious objects? Try putting a Nativity Cresh on your local courthouse lawn this Christmas.
One thing is for sure, Rudolph Giuliani would be on the opposite side of that fight. He would be using his vast powers to keep the Virgin Mary on display. I can hear him now. "Restore religion to public life." He would go to court to protect the public's right to view this masterpiece. But he seems to want this particular Virgin Mary removed from the Brooklyn Museum of Art. What a difference a piece of elephant dung seems to make.
Why are the 'liberals' who want to remove religious articles from every school, courthouse and public place in the country now outraged over the mayor's attempt to remove this particular religious painting from this particular museum? Shouldn't they be giving the mayor a hearty pat on the back? Shouldn't they give Giuliani an Honorary Membership in the ACLU?
Well here's a FLASH for you.... The Mayor is RIGHT on this issue!! And the massed army of "Freedom of Expression" advocates (who will likely win this fight in court) are dead wrong!!! Giuliani may be right for the wrong reasons, but he is still right. And, if he wasn't using this issue primarily to pander for senatorial votes, he could actually win the battle. But he won't, and we all will lose in the end.
One man's art is another man's religion. The public funding of art is an incredibly stupid idea. And it's wrong. While the government should never censor and prevent the display of any work of art, neither should it support that art. Censorship is the inevitable result. We see this so clearly in 'freedom of religion' issues. We see it clearly in 'freedom of speech' issues. Would we allow the government to publish (or fund the publishing) of newspapers and then let bureaucrats decide which columnists got published? Why do we support this same stupid system in art?
We need to realize that by definition the National Endowment of the Arts is thinly veiled censorship. While we are all outraged that Jessie Helms might choose what art we see, we are blissfully happy to allow some unelected lifetime on-the-public-dole administrative hack to decide exactly which urine soaked crucifix we should exhibit.
Don't misunderstand me, I think the Chris Ofili's Virgin Mary (left) is art. I would happily pay to see the Sensations exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. I just want the government OUT!!! The minute you let the government in, you let censorship in. The government should not be involved in sponsoring art any more than they should be allowed to sponsor religion.
In our view the real hero of this story is the rock artist and art collector David Bowie who is spending HIS OWN MONEY to bring the entire Sensations collection to the Internet at www.davidbowie.com. Bowie, who was named among the world’s top 200 art collectors this summer by ARTnews magazine, stepped forward to support the exhibit in April, after reading about it in the New York Times long before the controversy’s recent explosion in the media. This is exactly what should happen. Our strongest congratulations to Mr. Bowie.
Addendum
December 4, 1999
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Here's the question: Now that Rudy's photo has dung on it -
Is it art? |
In a remarkable (and very purposeful) bit or irony, protesters lined up in Washington Square Park to make contributions to help the homeless in exchange for the chance to toss dung at a portrait of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Protesters were outraged by the city’s treatment of homeless New Yorkers. But the shot at the mayor was a very direct response to his opposition to the funding of the controversial art. In the WIZARD'S opinion, the protesters, as usual, don't get it.... on either issue.
